In this post, I delve deeper into the grammatical and phraseological manifestations of language register in Bahasa Indonesia. In a future blog post, I will endeavor to see whether we can draw elementary conclusions on the meaning behind the language registers within the context of Indonesian culture.
Some of the language features affected by register changes include:
- the presence of the verbal prefixes, ber- and meN- to indicate formality and the lack of prefixes to indicate informality;
- word choices (e.g., the formal verb mengatakan vs the informal verb bilang);
- the use of address terms such as Pak, Bu (+name) to add respect or formality; and
- the use of longer and more complete sentence structure to create formality and ellipsis to create informality.
Some examples that demonstrate the difference between formal and informal registers:
- Good morning, Mr...
Formal: Selamat pagi, Pak
Infromal: Heh, (name)
- Want
Formal: Ingin
Informal: Mau
Basa-basi ("Small Talk")
When two interlocutors from different social statues engage in a conversation for the first time, it is likely they will engage in small talk at the beginning of the conversation. The primary function of small talk is to show respect and politeness to one's conversation partner. Therefore, the content is not too important. Small talk usually follows a script in which formulaic expressions/answers are given. It is not considered polite for the conversational partners to go straight to the main point of conversation.
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